


Reality of Combat

by Limitlxss



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Horrors of War, M/M, Multi, mentions of Zack and Genesis, traumatic event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 19:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4533930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limitlxss/pseuds/Limitlxss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a newly christened SOLDIER third and in command of a small demolition team, Cloud is sent out on his first official SOLDIER mission. When it turns into a baptism by fire, the young man who returns in its aftermath is not the same bright-eyed blond the SOLDIER firsts parted ways with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reality of Combat

The infantrymen were streaming in, heads bowed, uniforms torn and dirty, shoulders hunched against a weight none could see but all knew was there. Dozens of them were bloodied and bruised but those with more serious injuries had already been rushed to the on-site medical centre. One or two of them looked up forlornly as they trudged through the barracks towards beds or communal showers but it wasn’t the infantrymen that the pair of SOLDIERs were looking for. Interspersed amongst those infantrymen were SOLDIERs of various classes, some looking more unaffected than others.

 

Deciding that Genesis was too insensitive and Zack too exuberant for the occasion, the pair had been told to entertain themselves while Sephiroth and Angeal collected their newest SOLDIER after his first assignment as a third. From what they were seeing, it hadn’t gone well.

 

Finally the blond came into sight, almost barely discernible from the infantrymen with the blood and grime darkening his skin and uniform. It was only his hair that stood out and even that was dirty and drooping. Those eyes, normally so vibrant and blue and faintly glowing with green were dulled and downcast and there was a neat line of blood across his cheek that suggested a healed wound.

 

All the firsts knew was that the mission had been successful but clearly not without cost. A lot of the infantrymen coming back were new, Cloud was new to his position. It had been meant to be an easy assignment to let them in gently but something had obviously gone wrong.

 

Sephiroth was the one to step forward and draw the blond from the parade of sombre faces and Cloud went without resistance, without even looking up.

 

Closer inspection revealed tears in the uniform and smears of blood lining them but physically the third appeared unharmed. His passive demeanour and the haunted look in his eyes were worrying but not unusual after combat, no matter how hard someone trained. Cloud had seen combat before, he wouldn’t be third otherwise but it was the first assignment where he’d been in charge of anyone and the first time that his skills and knowledge had been put to the test in the field.

 

Rather than bombard him with questions, especially when it was unlikely that their companion was in any state to answer them, Sephiroth just guided the youth towards the raven who was waiting nearby, concern written all over his face. Letting Angeal take over then, Sephiroth stepped aside as the raven wrapped an arm around the shaken third’s waist and together the three of them began moving away towards the SOLDIER barracks and wordlessly to Sephiroth’s room.

 

Once there, Sephiroth moved to the small kettle on the side to put some coffee on while Angeal led Cloud through to the small ensuite bathroom. The blond was passive as the raven undressed him and turned the water on, ushering him beneath the spray. Before he could join the blond for support, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder and long silver hair shifted as Sephiroth shook his head. “Give him some time.”

 

With no small amount of reluctance, Angeal nodded and with a lingering look at the blond, finally turned and left Cloud to clean up on his own. The silveret’s room was bigger than those given to the thirds, and certainly better than the infantry’s communal barracks but still not that big and with the two larger firsts already in it, it was a little bit cramped. When seconds and above could have off-base accommodation, it wasn’t often that Sephiroth’s room was used but for now it was better than Cloud’s tiny room and gave him the privacy to clear the blood and dirt from himself in peace.

 

“Give him some space,” Sephiroth murmured, offering the raven one of the cups of coffee from his personal stash. Angeal looked as though he needed it almost as much as the blond was going to. “He’ll tell us what happened when he’s ready. I think it’s safe to say that things did not go as planned but it’s more important that he made it back to us in one piece. Do not pressure him for the details,” Sephiroth warned him, hardly the best when it came to reading people but he knew very well how fragile someone could be after a traumatic event.

 

“He didn’t look good Seph…” Angeal lamented quietly, looking up at the silveret with a look in his eyes that was almost pleading with the taller male to tell him that Cloud was going to be alright. He knew he would be, he knew that Cloud was strong in his own quiet way but seeing him like that, with the life practically sucked out of him made Angeal worry for him.

 

“Have a little faith in him Angeal. He’s exactly where he wanted to be, and he needs to come to terms with the reality of that,” Sephiroth replied, standing beside the bed that Angeal was sat on. Folding his arms, the silveret settled in to wait.

 

The minutes ticked by slowly and with silence settled over the waiting firsts, there was only the sound of the shower to listen to.

 

Time dragged until finally Angeal rose to fetch their soggy SOLDIER from the shower. When he moved into the tiny ensuite, Cloud was still stood beneath the spray, head bowed, skin reddened with the heat of the water and Angeal’s heart went out to him. There was more clarity to those striking blue eyes though and when the raven moved closer, those same eyes slid slowly in Angeal’s direction.

 

Taking the raven’s appearance as the prompt it was to get out of the shower, Cloud sluggishly raised his hand to turn off the water but before he could reach for a towel as he stepped out, Angeal stepped forward to wrap him up in the only available towel and Cloud just let him dry him off. He wound up wearing a spare uniform of Sephiroth’s that was too big but that hardly mattered as he and Angeal moved back into the bedroom section. It wasn’t the first time that Cloud had borrowed clothes but at least those times had been under better circumstances.

 

Angeal sat him on the edge of the bed and for a moment, Cloud felt as though he was in trouble what with the pair standing over him but then Sephiroth handed him a steaming cup of coffee and all of a sudden, Cloud was fighting a breakdown, his hands shaking, making the coffee in his cup ripple and lap at the sides.

 

He was quiet for a long time, knowing that the pair were waiting for him to explain, to let them know that he was alright but he had no idea where to start or how to make them understand how he was feeling. Then it occurred to him that he didn’t have to make them understand. They would both have been through similar experiences. All he needed to do was tell what he needed to tell.

 

When he began with ‘They knew we were coming’, both Angeal and Sephiroth knew that things weren’t going to get better the longer the telling went on.

 

“I can still hear them screaming… I put the charges there… I brought that building down on top of them…” he shook his head, staring into his coffee, still seeing the bodies, hearing their screams, the moans of the dying. He told them that his part of the mission had been key, to remove an important person from the playing field while the army distracted their enemy from their true intentions and he’d performed exactly as he’d been expected to, only there had been hundreds of other people in that building; people who probably hadn’t deserved being buried under the rubble.

 

“There was one… he saw me sabotaging one of their stolen shinra vehicles and still climbed into it, still started it up… He drove it right at me… The engine block overheated just like it was meant to and he still kept coming… it exploded, ripped him to shreds and nearly took me with him… He didn’t care that it would kill him, he knew it would and he still got behind the wheel to try to kill me.”

 

He’d been picked up and helped away by the small squad he’d been in charge with and he’d cured himself to keep himself going, the adrenaline keeping the true horror of the situation from sinking in. When the army had pulled out, the infantry and SOLDIER herded back into their trucks, the bulk of the army had clearly encountered a prepared resistance and they were a sorry lot as they were transported back to base. The mission was successful despite the mess it had become and unbeknownst to the blond he’d been recommended for a commendation and a small monetary bonus for the part he’d played. They already had their eye on him for Second too.

 

When he was done with his tale the shakes hadn’t stopped and his coffee was still mostly full. He sipped from it but didn’t seem to taste it and the heat had gone from it too.

 

“Where is the honour in that Angeal? Where is the honour in detonating charges from a safe distance? It’s not like fighting face to face. It’s not like we’re fighting for our lives with guns or swords…”

 

“War isn’t as clean and tidy as the training room would have you believe. Little missions to neutralise a target or a monster don’t prepare you for war,” Sephiroth explained, his voice low and serious.

 

“You probably saved hundreds of lives today though Cloud,” Angeal added, taking the cold coffee from the blond’s shaking hands and gently nudging Sephiroth into preparing a fresh one. Under other circumstances the silveret would have complained about wasting his precious coffee. With the silveret making another coffee, Angeal sat himself next to Cloud and gently tugged the troubled blond so that Cloud was leaning against him. “They could have been planning an attack in that building, they could have been finalising details on planting bombs of their own. You did a good thing today Cloud.”

 

The blond didn’t seem wholly reassured but just as Sephiroth had said, it would take time for the youngest of their number to accept his place within SOLDIER and come to terms with exactly what that meant. He accepted a second cup of coffee and actually drank from that one, shoulders slumped and eyes still downcast.

 

It was going to be a long evening and a longer night for the blond and making the decision for him that he wasn’t ready to be around Zack or Genesis just yet, both Sephiroth and Angeal agreed too that the blond could do with company for the night and a short debate followed over who should stay with him and where.

 

Knowing that it wouldn’t be too long before Cloud would be called to the Director’s office, Sephiroth volunteered to have Cloud stay with him while Angeal went to assure the absent pair that everything was okay but that Cloud was a bit shaken up by everything. Angeal was reluctant to part ways with the youngest male but he knew that Sephiroth wouldn’t handle Zack’s inevitable barrage of questions very well and eventually conceded that Sephiroth’s suggestion made sense.

 

Cloud just let them make the decisions over his head. He sipped at his coffee, staring blankly over the rim even as Angeal rose from beside him. Feeling gentle fingers comb through his damp hair, Cloud glanced up and even managed a faint smile for him. “Thank you,” he whispered, knowing that even though it didn’t feel like it right then, that Angeal’s words would help him. He received a warm smile in return and he could see that his raven haired friend had absolute confidence in him. It gave him a little more confidence in himself and though he knew that he was dearly going to miss Angeal’s company, Sephiroth would take care of him.

 

The raven parted ways with them then and in Sephiroth’s company, Cloud was left mull over his successful, if intense and unpredictable debut mission in the field as a SOLDIER third class.


End file.
